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Regional development platforms as incubators of business ecosystems. Case study: The Lahti urban region, Finland

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  • Vesa Harmaakorpi
  • Satu Rinkinen

Abstract

This paper combines three major concepts: regional development platforms, business ecosystems and competitiveness policy. The framework of business and innovation ecosystems is gaining ground in the discussion of competitiveness and innovation policy. The framework challenges competitiveness and innovation policies because ecosystems are seen as highly self‐organising and self‐renewing systems. Is there still room for innovation and competitiveness policies? This paper focuses on ecosystem‐facilitating competitiveness policy at the regional level and argues that the emergence, growth and renewal of business ecosystems can be facilitated by a competitiveness policy focused on related variety platforms embedded in a regional innovation ecosystem. As a case illustrating this point, we present the strategic themes and development platforms in the Lahti urban region, which are constructed following the ecosystem theory. This paper contributes to the previous literature on regional development and innovation policy by presenting a policy framework for a modern competitiveness policy that is based on constructed competitiveness, development platforms and business and innovation ecosystem theory. For policy practice, this paper provides a real‐life example of a regional competitiveness strategy and the construction of a strategy that is based on the ecosystem frame.

Suggested Citation

  • Vesa Harmaakorpi & Satu Rinkinen, 2020. "Regional development platforms as incubators of business ecosystems. Case study: The Lahti urban region, Finland," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 626-645, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:growch:v:51:y:2020:i:2:p:626-645
    DOI: 10.1111/grow.12375
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Viktor Ivanovich Blanutsa, 2022. "Regionalization of the Digital Economic Space: Contours of Emerging Approaches," Spatial Economics=Prostranstvennaya Ekonomika, Economic Research Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Khabarovsk, Russia), issue 2, pages 56-82.
    3. Weijiang Liu & Yue Bai, 2021. "An Analysis on the Influence of R&D Fiscal and Tax Subsidies on Regional Innovation Efficiency: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-24, November.
    4. Manuel Octavio Del Campo Villares & Vanessa Miguéns-Refojo & Francisco Jesús Ferreiro-Seoane, 2020. "Business Survival and the Influence of Innovation on Entrepreneurs in Business Incubators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, July.

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